1. Field
This invention relates to a float tube and more particularly a float tube with pontoons, which combines features of pontoon boats and float tubes. The float tubes and pontoons, being of material adapted to receiving inflatable bladders, which provide floatation thereto, upon inflation.
2. State of the Art
More recent float tubes come in various shapes, round, U-shaped, V-shaped or H-shaped. All but the round float tube have support bars to hold them open and keep them from spreading out and generally have a fabric seat sewn across the central opening. These various styles of float tubes sit low to the water and the user""s body is mostly in the water. Several problems occur in these types of float tubes. In most, the bottom half of the body is in the water and hangs down through the tube. There is a tendency for the feet and legs to get tangled in the weeds, to drag on the bottom. They are not particularly comfortable and even with waders, the body get cold because the individual is submerged from the waist down.
Another major problem with the float tube and their designs is that they tend to compress or collapse when a person sits in them. These float tubes all have the same type of seat attachment, a xe2x80x9csling stylexe2x80x9d seat stitched across the bottom to the sides of the inflated tubes. The weight of the body on this seat tends to pull the sides inward causing discomfort. The bigger the person, the more the sides are pulled inward.
To prevent the sides from coming inward when weight is put on the seat, a stabilizer bar is sometimes used. This stabilizer bar is usually put in front of the tube to keep the sides from collapsing inward. The stabilizer bar helps prevent this but not entirely because the sides are inflated chambers and are not rigid, so they collapse inward around the stabilizer bar.
The single most detrimental or negative feature in float tubes on the market is that they tend to collapse inward on the person when sitting in them. The heavier the person, the more the sides are pulled inward. This effect causes discomfort and is very annoying. Again, the bigger the person, the more dramatic the effect and the more discomfort.
Other major problems with float tubes relate to safety because the body protrudes down through the tube and the seat is often attached to the stabilizer bar with a strap that goes between the user""s legs. You are trapped in the tube should the tube lose air or should you tip over in the tube. Drownings have occurred because of this. Furthermore, other float tubes consist of one main chamber and one or two smaller chambers. Should you puncture the main chamber or get an air leak, you will more than likely go under and waders if used would quickly fill with water endangering the user.
Because of the shape of many float tubes, there is an adverse effect produced by wind and/or current. While fishing in a float tube or boat, it is important to remain facing in one direction. This allows individuals to effectively work their line. Most float tubes are difficult to keep facing one direction, as they tend to turn with the wind or current at will, causing difficulty for fishing, which is the intend use.
Various modifications to float tubes have been suggested, such as attaching them to pontoons, but problems have occurred. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,168,489 B, issued to Hutson, discloses a float tube with a pair of inflatable pontoons, with a general U-shaped support affixed to the pontoons with arms overlaying the pontoons, which joins a back support member. The back support member maintains proper spacing of the pontoons and the float tube is provided with a flexible seat between the two pontoons in front of the back support. Also a rigid separator is positioned between the two pontoons in from of the flexible seat. The float tube provides pouches secured to the arms and also may include a head rest on the back support.
Even with the separator and back support an individual seated on the flexible seat will have tendency to pull the pontoons inward and downward, especially with a relatively heavy individual.
Applicant has taken desirable features from a pontoon boat and a float tube and added certain features, which provide a unique watercraft or pontoon float.
The present invention provides a pair pontoons with a fabric seat secured between the inboard sides at the horizontal midline through the pontoons. The fabric being in the form of a pocket to house a rigid foam cushion having its sides shaped or cut at an acute angle, so that it is wider at the bottom than the top. The pocket holds the cushion partly below and partly above the midline through the pontoons.
The present invention includes a U-shaped inflatable upper unit positioned on top of a pair of inflatable pontoons, held spaced apart by a seat member and releasably attached to the pontoons with Velcro fasteners and belts with attached buckles. The Velcro fasteners have their loop members sewn to the underside of the U-shaped upper unit to mate with the pile section sewn to the upper portion of the pontoons. The Velcro fasteners are sufficiently wide to permit the upper unit to be positioned fore and aft to accommodate the user""s posture. The open area of the upper unit accommodates a spacer or stabilizer bar to maintain the open area of the upper unit properly oriented, which in turn maintains the pontoons in the proper parallel orientation.
It is an object of the invention to provide a pontoon float having a pair of pontoons spaced apart by a rigid floatation seat wider a the bottom than at the top, which tends to push the pontoons outward at the bottom with a load on the seat. Each of the pontoons have sufficient Velcro fastener pile members sewn along the longitudinal axis of the pontoon, for mating with the loop members of the Velcro fasteners sewn to the bottom of the U-shaped upper unit, for securing the upper unit to the pontoon unit and further secured with straps and buckles, thus the upper unit maintains the pontoons in parallel alignment and firmly secured to the upper unit. A spacer bar is detachably secured to the arms of the U-shaped member to maintain the proper orientation of the upper unit arms.
It is another object of the inventions to provide a pontoon float having a lower unit composed a pair of pontoons spaced apart by a rigid seat member interposed between the pontoons and an upper U-shaped unit, which are inflatable and when inflated are attached to each other such that the pontoons of the lower unit are maintained parallel and the arms of the upper unit are maintained parallel by a spacer bar releasably secured there between. The rigid seat member is also a floatation device, which maintains the pontoons parallel with each other and resists inward collapse thereof. Each arm of the upper member includes a storage compartment secured to the upper unit. The rear of the upper unit has an inflatable back rest with a storage compartment affixed to the back rest. The spacer bar secures one end of a netting that fits over the lap of a user and is attached to the arms of the upper unit by a Velcro fastener at the rear of the net.
It is another object of the invention to provide a pontoon float, which may be carried in a back pack in a deflated and disassembled configuration that consists of a lower or pontoon section and an upper or U-shaped section having a backrest in which the lower pontoon section and the upper U-shaped section can be readily inflated, with the pontoons maintained separated by a rigid seat member with a wider bottom than top. The upper unit, when inflated, is secured to the lower float unit with Velcro fasteners and belts to maintain the lower section and the upper section rigid, stable and secured to each other. The upper unit has a complimentary spacer bar, which cooperates with the seat member to resist the pontoon float from closing inward on a user with the spacer bar and seat resisting rotation of the pontoons or arms.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a pontoon float having a pontoon section and upper horseshoe-shaped comfort section. The pontoon hull comprises a pair of inflatable pontoons spaced apart by a rigid seat member, and maintained parallel to each other by a horseshoe-shaped inflatable deck, designed to be connected to the inflatable hull to form a float tube. The deck can be positioned for comfort and load distribution, fore and aft form the center of the hull. The open end of the deck has a spacer bar, which compliments the seat member in maintaining the pontoons parallel and preventing inward collapse of the pontoons in conjunction with the beveled rigid seat member. The pontoons, as well as the deck, retain independent bladders for inflation.
It is an object of the inventions to provide a pontoon float having a pair of pontoons containing inflatable bladders spaced apart and maintained parallel by a rigid floatation member having a wider bottom than top, secured at the midline through the pontoons, with the member extending above and below the midline. A horseshoe-shaped body having a central backrest joining the arms of the body together removably mounted fore or aft from amidships for appropriately distributing the load. The rigid seat member together with a space bar, positioned between the arms, compliment each other in maintaining the pontoon float with its pontoons parallel and resists inward collapse of the pontoons, as well as, rotation of the pontoons. The upper body is secured to the pontoons by Velcro fasteners, belts and buckles. The body further includes a backrest containing an inflatable bladder, also flexible storage compartments.
If is a further object of the invention to provide a pontoon float consisting of a raft formed by port and starboard inflatable pontoons secured to each side of a beveled floatation member and an inflatable body releasably mountable in various fore or aft positions upon the raft having a central back spanning the pontoons and a pair of arms for retention to the port and starboard pontoons, respectively, with a spacer bar releasably extending between the pair of arms, whereby the port and starboard pontoons are maintained parallel and restrained from inward collapse by complimentary action of the spacer bar and beveled floatation member.